A trial of FGM bearings with solid lubricant

It is difficult to use an ordinary plain bearing under a high load or at a high friction speed because lubricant oil is pushed out from the friction surface or deterioration of the lubricant oil is caused by heat of friction. A solid lubricant, MoS₂, is promising in such condition. When the lubricant is dispersed in a matrix, the solid lubricant is always supplied from the matrix. Such a composite bearing needs a back metal to maintain its shape. The heat of friction may cause a crack between the bearing and the back metal due to thermal stress. A bearing with low coefficient of friction is necessary to decrease the heat of friction, and an FGM structure is also promising to decrease the stress. The aim of this experiment is to fabricate and to examine friction properties of the composites. Cu was plated on the lubricant particles by electroless deposition. The lubricant volume fraction (hereafter V _f) was up to V_f 30 %. The Cu plated lubricant particles were hot-pressed to form a composite at 873 K under 30 MPa in a vacuum. Friction properties of the composites were determined by using a ball-on-disk type testing machine. The test was performed in the air without oil at room temperature. The solid lubricant in the composites was effective to decrease the coefficients of friction under a high load when the V_f was higher than 20 %.